Under the Hood
by AdamGregory03
Summary: Just a little one-shot I wrote off the top of my head. A day to unwind suddenly turns stressful for Magic element Skylander Star Strike, and her closest friend is determined to help her out. (I apologize if you suddenly start shipping Star Strike x Smolderdash after reading this, I swear that was not my intention)


Our story begins with a carnival in the world of Skylands. And at this carnival, four of the Skylanders, Wash Buckler, Trigger Happy, Star Strike, and Smolderdash were visiting to have a good time and taking a break from battling baddies. As Smolderdash held a teddy cyclops under her shoulder, she turned to the others "Man, evenings to unwind just don't come often enough."

"Yeah. Unfortunately that's just part of the job of bein' a Skylander I suppose." Wash Buckler remarked. "Just makes it easier to appreciate. And besides, I was never one to turn down a carnival."

"Yeah. It's almost like back home." Star Strike said. "Only..."

"What's your home like, anyway, Star?" Trigger Happy asked.

Star Strike paused, not really wanting to answer the question, and suddenly feeling uneasy. "It's... It's nothing special." she finally said.

The gun-slinging gremlin simply shrugged. Wash Buckler glanced around, and saw a shooting gallery hosted by a Mabu. "Hey, Trigs, I bet all my doubloons you can't get a perfect score on that." he said.

Trigger Happy turned and saw the shooting gallery. He immediately gained a look of determination and whipped out one of his golden pistols and twirled it in his fingertips. "You're on."

He walked straight up to the shooting gallery and tossed a golden coin to the Mabu. "I'll be using my own gun, good sir." he said. With that, he hopped right onto the counter and began shooting his gun like crazy, hitting every target in the center. This however was at the expense of them ricocheting all over the place. Knocking off Wash Buckler's hat, hitting the other attractions... But one of them decked Star Strike right in the head, knocking her over and knocking her hood off, to which the other Skylanders noticed, with the gremlin stopping what he was doing. Star Strike quickly covered her face in the hood and glanced up. She gasped, fearing what her friends had seen...

"Whoops... Uh, sorry about that, Star." Trigger Happy apologized. "Got a little carried away... You all right?"

"I-I'm fine, perfectly fine!" Star said, sounding panicked. Worried about what her friends have seen, she actually began floating away from them. "I'm perfectly normal, yes, bye!" she said as she suddenly ran off.

"Star Strike?" Wash Buckler called out. "Star, where ya going?"

"I'll go get her." Smolderdash offered.

Smolderdash gave the teddy cyclops to Wash Buckler and left, using her Smolder Dash to go after her. Star had fled to out of the carnival's bounds, with Smolderdash still looking for her. She eventually found her near a shallow pond. It appeared she was looking down at it, and also had her hood down. "Star Strike?" Smolderdash called out, which she gasped once more at hearing and covered her face once more before turning to her.

"Uh... Smolderdash, what're you doing here?" she nervously asked.

"I'm looking for you." she replied. "Why'd you run off? Are you hurt?"

"N-no, I'm fine, as I said." Star quickly responded. "Everything is fine, nobody saw anything, the fair is still-"

"What about nobody seeing something?"

"...N-nothing, let's... let's go back..."

Smolderdash raised an eyebrow at her fellow Skylander's unusual behavior. "Star, what's going on?" she asked.

"I... Just like I said, nothing..." Star Strike replied. "Why would you..."

"Because you only act like this when something's wrong." she said. She began reaching for her hood. "What, did he give you a black eye or something?"

Star Strike tried to back away. "Nothing! Nothing is wrong!"

"Aw, c'mon, there's no need to hide your pretty little face." Smolderdash playfully teased.

Suddenly, Star Strike batted her warm hands away. "NO!" she exclaimed, surprising the both of them. "I-I'm sorry, it's just that... Never mind, it's not important."

Smolderdash saw the concern in her friend's eyes. "It clearly is to you, Star." she said. "What's wrong?"

Star Strike didn't want to answer, which Smolderdash noticed. "Star, c'mon... We've been Skylanders together for three years now." she said in a calm tone. "You know you can tell me anything."

She looked away for a bit, then sighed. "It's... where I'm from. My world has a very different outlook on society than Skylands. They think anything that doesn't look normal is bad." she explained. "And... I don't look normal. That's why I wear the hood."

"Wow... I always thought you were just trying to be mysterious." Smolderdash said.

"Yeah... So did they." Star replied. "...Do you... _really_ want to see what I look like?"

"Star, what could it be about you that makes your kind think you're not normal?" she asked.

Star sighed again and reached for her hood. "Are we alone?"

"Yeah, it's just us here."

"Are you _sure_?"

"Just drop the hood, Star."

Star Strike closed her eyes and slowly lowered her hood. Smolderdash's eyes widened in surprise at what she saw. Underneath the hood, her face looked very human. She had short-cut blue hair, and purple markings underneath her eyes. She was beautiful. But Star Strike opened her eyes, with a look of sadness on her face upon seeing her friend's expression.

"I know..." Star said depressed. She turned away, with a few tears forming up in her eyes. "I'm not normal..."

Smolderdash too looked sad. It pained her to see her this upset. She approached her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Star..." she said, to which Star Strike then turned her head back to look at her. "What're you talking about? There's nothing to be ashamed of."

Star Strike fully turned around and faced her. "To my people, there's everything to be ashamed of. I'm an outcast in my own home. I-"

"But Star, this isn't your home world." Smolderdash interrupted. "And none of your people are here in Skylands, as far as I'm aware."

"But..." Star began, with the tears starting to roll down her cheeks. "What they said to me..."

Smolderdash suddenly cupped her crying friend's face and kissed her on the forehead. "I know the feeling, Star. Your own people not liking you because you look different... It sucks." She then wrapped her arms around Star and embraced her in a hug. "But it's in the past now. And... You're normal to me, Star."

The tears rolled down her face even faster now as she returned the hug. After a good solid minute of embrace, the two of them parted from their hug. "You gonna be okay, Star?" Smolderdash asked. Star smiled and nodded, which in turn made Smolderdash smile. "I'm not going to tell anyone about this if you don't want me to."

"Thank you, Smolderdash..." Star said as she wiped some of the tears out of her eye. She reached for her hood and put it back over her head, hiding her face once more. "And uh... speaking of the others, we should probably rejoin them, shouldn't we?"

"Sure thing."

Smolderdash wrapped her arm around Star's shoulders, and the two of them headed back to the carnival to meet up with their fellow Skylanders.


End file.
